Unreal vs Cryengine vs Source vs id Tech vs Frostbite

[Dankk]

Serious Engine 3

:thumbsup:

 

[GundamW]

It's interesting that most of these engines are used for FPS games.

Is there any engine that produces RTS or turn-based games by different developers?

 

[Red Storm]

It's interesting that most of these engines are used for FPS games.

Is there any engine that produces RTS or turn-based games by different developers?

Those kinds of games typically require less detailed graphics since you view the action from far up high. The best looking RTS I can think of is Company of Heroes. If you brought the camera down to eye level, you would think you were playing a shooter.

 

[dennilfloss]

You forgot GameBryo.

 

[scooterlibby]

Dunia should be on there. While not the best, I was damn impressed by it.

 

[Schadenfreude]

For being hardware-friendly, I'd go with either Source or IDTech(4). Voted IDTech if only because John Carmack has a habit of making his older engines open-license once the newer engines are released.

But outside of that, there's plenty of great looking games from any of those platforms so I'd say it's a wash.

 

[Red Hawk]

You forgot GameBryo.

I considered it, but it's old and buggy.

 

[GundamW]

Those kinds of games typically require less detailed graphics since you view the action from far up high. The best looking RTS I can think of is Company of Heroes. If you brought the camera down to eye level, you would think you were playing a shooter.

I understand what you are saying.
What I was trying to get at is, why no one seems to create a "base" RTS/turnbased engine and let other developers build on it like FPS engines?

 

[Dankk]

I considered it, but it's old and buggy.

Agreed. Gamebryo sucks.

 

[wuliheron]

I wonder if that will make the engine less popular in some situations. Such as how some companies may be owned by larger houses such as EA, and EA may usually serve as their publisher. If they have to use EA, then they cannot use id Tech 5. Not really sure how it all works.

I don't think anyone really understands all the politics and financing involved. Licencing engines involves a lot more then merely selling the rights to use it and Id has gotten out of that altogether. Their engines are designed for efficiency rather then adding the latest bells and whistles which limits their commercial appeal anyway.

For example, although the Id Tech 5 engine has great draw distances and textures, its only dx 9. The data compression scheme is so complex making it dx 11 would be a major undertaking and the Id Tech 6 engine will extend that data compression to include ray traced geometry. Instead of going for better lighting effects and whatnot the entire focus is on data compression so the game can play well on even the wimpiest platform and, yet, still produce some new graphics effects that will sell in today's market.

 

[CottonRabbit]

id Tech 3. Lots of timeless games on that engine.

 

[intenseevil]

fairly old thread.
I'd say the real competition is between id tech 5 and unreal 3. I'd hand it to the former for its 60fps perforance in iphone 4!

I find little logic in including source juz cuz portal was made using that. There's a portal mod for quake 3 made by semiprofessionals and its near perfect both in terms of graphics and gameplay

 

[raasco]

Holy necro first post!

 

[Qbah]

Holy necro batman :awe:

I voted for Cryengine

 

[Fenixgoon]

source: flexible, but still looks great. the most flexible of the bunch, IMO.

unreal: also very flexible and looks great. most games seem too "shiny" and dark.

id Tech: interesting technology, works well, but hasn't caught on.

cryengine: when you want the best graphics, no question

frostbite: having not played BF3 much, i can't really say. it looks great and is pretty scalable though.

 

[shortylickens]

I like the Unreal engine cuz its clean and efficient and smooth on a wide variety of systems. I sometimes wish Bethesda had used it instead of rebuilding their own so many times.

 

[sandorski]

Unreal Engine is obviously the best overall as a package as most developers choose their engine. I have heard that Epic has excellent support and a relatively flexable engine.

Cryengine is my favorite though.

The biggest advantage the Unreal Engine has is consistency. You could learn the original engine and carry that knowledge to each successive engine with only a few tweaks.

 

[TechBoyJK]

xxxxxxxxxxxx

 

[Dankk]

CryEngine is most powerful and has the most intuitive editor, but any of these engines in the hands of a good studio can make your jaw drop.

Agreed. Even the Source engine, which is pretty damn old now, can still produce some impressive visuals.

 

[raasco]

Frostbite 2 blows me away every time I crank up BF3. The destruction is amazing.

 

[Pr0d1gy]

As someone who has played nearly every shooter on every platform the past 10 years or so, I have to go with Unreal Engine. From Quake 3 and Unreal Tourney 2k4 to Gear of War 3, it has been consistently excellent.

My favorite recent use of it was in Space Marine, a game which stole one of my long-standing game design quests to incorporate melee fighting into a shooter properly. It was, of course, not the ideal solution but an admirable attempt and a vision into what games will look like in 10-20 years; where you won't be limited by concepts like shooter, rpg, open world, fighter, racer...the best games will incorporate all necessary methods in order to completely immerse you into the story, without being limited by a certain style of gameplay; and then they hopefully transfer that effort into the multiplayer portion as well as Space Marine did.

I would love to see someone really run with this idea like a Shadowrun tried to do, but of course the industry might be too stale to turn that corner for the next few years. Only time will tell, but it should be interesting to see what comes down the pipe the next decade or two.

 

[kache]

Cryengine, it's not even a challenge.

 

[videogames101]

Frostbite 2

 

[supremor]

From a purely technical point of view and as someone who values graphical fidelity above most other things I voted for Cryengine (3). You really have to see some of the mods and custom maps that were made for Crysis/Crysis 2 if you want to see the full extent of CE2/3 as some of the custom maps are stunning.

I was never a fan of Battlefield but I'd rank Frostbite 2 as a close second as it is a very impressive engine although the lens flare in BF3 made me sick.

 

[Grooveriding]

I will say Cryengine, but specific to Cryengine 2. Nothing touches Crysis 1 with modifications in the visual department. The physics are also amazing.